


Nightmare

by MissZayla



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies), X-Men: Apocalypse
Genre: Alex Summers Lives, Cerebro, Charles Xavier Needs a Hug, Charles-centric, Dreams and Nightmares, Drug Use, Drug Withdrawal, En Sabur Nur Lives, Erik Has Feelings, Established Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier, Honestly Charles What Are You Thinking, Hurt Charles Xavier, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Mind Control, Mind Manipulation, Night Terrors, Not Canon Compliant - X-Men: Apocalypse, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Overdosing, Partial Mind Control, Past Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Past Child Abuse, Past Drug Addiction, Poor Charles, Possessive Erik, Post-X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), Powerful Charles Xavier, Protective Erik, Seizures, someone help him
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-07
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2020-01-04 19:40:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18350381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissZayla/pseuds/MissZayla
Summary: It's over. En Sabur Nur is dead. And the world is safe once more...right? Wrong. Charles is plagued by nightmares and terrors, of what if En Sabur Nur succeeded in inputting his consciousness into his body. But he didn't actually succeed...did he?





	1. Chapter One: The Plan

**Author's Note:**

> En Sabur Nur taking over Charles' body reminds me of The Beast from Split/Glass. Use that for reference.  
> This idea came to me after watching X-Men: Apocalypse for the third time. I don't know if anyone else thought of this...I'll explain more with Author Notes.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who don't know, in the comics Charles Xavier was the step brother of Cain Marko (Juggernaut) and the step-son of Kurt Marko. They were canonically abusive towards him.

***

 He felt it again. The burning of the iron across his skin from when his step-father returned home drunk, after busting all their savings on a game of cards, darts, poker. You name it, and he probably gambled on it. He felt trapped again, like when Cain would force Charles into their closet, closing it and putting a chair against it, forcing him to stay in there for God knows how long. One, two, three days. One time, he was stuck there for a week before one of the maids discovered him. Luckily, as soon as he turned sixteen, his mother decided to send him to boarding school, away from his step-father and Cain...and away from Raven, or so he thought. 

Raven who he met when he was just ten years old, Raven who protected him from both his step-father and Cain, Raven who followed him all the way to France to attend his boarding school. But what was strange, is that Charles put these nightmares behind him years ago, it was odd how they were coming back now. It felt as though an invisible force in his mind was tormenting him with the memories. 

But that was impossible right?

***

Charles scrubbed at his face with the back of his hand, he spared a glance at the alarm clock on his nightstand, that read 04:56am. Reminding him that yet again, he didn't get any sleep. He groaned and pulled back the covers, sighing as he looked down as his motionless, bony legs. His chair was nowhere to be seen, which means he had to wait for either Erik or Hank to come and check on him. Which wouldn't be for another two hours. Instead, he reached for the book he kept on his nightstand. The one Erik got him on Genetic Mutation, even though Charles knew everything about the topic, he still appreciated the gesture. 

He began reading, letting the words sooth his mind and rid of the memories of his childhood. This worked for a while, but eventually the onslaught of memories became too much. Charles placed the book beside him on the bed and rubbed at his temples, hissing in pain at the sharp twinge. 

_He coughed as Cain dragged him onto the floor and started to kick him in the ribs after discovering Charles read his mind. It was a complete accident as Charles couldn't control it, but Cain didn't care. Charles swore he heard one of his ribs crack before Raven came out from underneath his bed and hit Cain on the back of the head with a lamp. Immediately, she began to help Charles into a sitting position._

Charles gritted his teeth as his head started to pound, he couldn't reach Erik or Hank. It was like someone was blocking him...but that was impossible. There wasn't another telepath in the school, unless you counted Jean but she would never purposely block Charles out. His powers started lifting random items in the room and pulling them onto the floor, Charles pressed his fingers to his temple and tried to stop it happening but the items wouldn't listen to him, he groaned as he was dragged into another memory. 

_He could smell the alcohol radiating from Kurt before he even opened his mouth to speak, and from his expression, he lost around five bets, meaning Charles' family lost around £30,000. Kurt stomped into the sitting room, his eyes instantly narrowed as he noticed Charles sitting on the sofa reading a book. "Freak." He said, reaching over into the cupboard and pulling out another bottle of whiskey, chugging it as soon as it was opened._

_Once it was empty, Kurt turned his attention onto Charles. Charles watched with widened eyes as Kurt swung the bottle towards him, it flew in the air for a few seconds and stopped right in front of Charles' face. Charles had two fingers on his temple, his powers stopped the glass bottle before it hit his face and caused another trip to the ER. It would have been the third one this month. Kurt's anger intensified, Charles lowered the bottle until it hit the floor softly. Kurt bundled his hands into fists. "Get out of my face you mutant freak!" He shouted, Charles jumped back and ran as quickly as he could out of the room._

Charles muffled a scream into his hands and the throbbing in his head increased, he sat there, blocked out from everyone's mind and unable to even walk. He could hear Kurt telling him how useless he became, and how no one could ever love a 'mutant freak' like him. He couldn't stop the sob ripping from his throat. his hands curled into fists and he tried everything to get his legs to move. Inside his head, a gravelly voice started to speak.

 ** _Hank's serum is still in your nightstand drawer._** It said.  _ **No one would notice if you took a small dose.**_

He couldn't do it, not after the pain he put everyone through the last time he used. He'd been sober for the last year. He can't spiral into old habits because of a few nightmares. What would Erik and Raven think of him? He looked towards his nightstand drawer, his hand automatically reached out before he stopped himself. He sat there in silence as the sun rose up through his curtains, as he looked at his clock he realized someone would be coming soon. And he could put all this behind him. 

***

A knock sounded at his door and Charles perked up, rubbing his eyes, he must of dreamt what happened earlier- if it even happened. The person knocked again before calling out. "Charles? Can I come in?" It was Erik. Charles sighed and shuffled, as much as he could, into a sitting position. "Yes!" He replied, groaning at the stiffness in his shoulders. The door to his room creaked open and Erik stepped in, holding a tray of food. "What's this...?" Charles asked, nodding towards the plate. Erik chuckled and stepped towards Charles' bed, flicking on the light using his powers, he set the tray on Charles' lap. 

The tray was pilled high with food, three slices of bacon, four sausages, two eggs and beans. Charles arched a brow as he saw the post-it note resting on the side of the glass plate. "'We're sorry'?" He looked towards Erik, and Erik laughed, sitting on the edge of Charles' bed. "Jean, Scott and Ororo destroyed the training room after playing a rather intense game of tag. They made breakfast to apologize and enlisted my help." Charles chuckled and shook his head. "How many time is that? First they made a cake to apologize, then...I swear they planted a tree."

"Flowers. They planted tulips, they spelt out 'sorry'." Charles nodded with a small smile. "Ah yes I remember. Blue tulips, my favorite." Charles said, tucking into the breakfast the children made. "How are they this morning?" Erik shrugged. "Frankly, they're more concerned about you Charles. That's why i'm here instead of Hank." Charles raised his head with a small frown on his face. "Me? Why would they be concerned about me? I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Erik said, reaching out to touch Charles' hand. "Jean came into my room earlier. She was distraught and said she felt as though something happened to you." Charles almost choked on the eggs he currently had in his mouth, he swallowed them and cleared his throat. "I'm fine Erik. Nothing happened last night." He brushed it off, surely this wasn't all connected with what happened in the early morning. 

Erik was watching Charles with a small frown, he shuffled up the bed and placed a hand on Charles' shoulder. "You're not..." He looked down. "You're not using again are you?" He whispered, looking into Charles' eyes for any sign of redness. Charles rolled away from Erik's touch. "No Erik. I haven't been using. You and Raven are extremely sensitive with that type of thing." Charles said coldly, Erik sighed and rubbed at his face. "We care about you Charles. We don't want you overdosing or hurting yourself." Charles shook his head and placed the plate he was currently eating from onto his night stand. 

"I haven't been using Erik." Charles repeated, crossing his arms over his chest.  _ **But you've thought about it haven't you?**_ Charles jumped as the voice spoke again, Erik immediately touched Charles' shoulders. "Charles...? Are you alright?" He asked curiously, tilting his head as he normally does when he's confused. "Y-Yes...I'm fine." Charles whispered, averting his eyes away from Erik. Erik lifted Charles' chin with two fingers. "Are you lying to me?" He asked firmly, searching Charles' face for any sign of him lying. Charles sighed and screwed his eyes shut. "I'm fine. I just...haven't been sleeping well." That wasn't entirely a lie. 

"Do you want me to cancel your classes today? I'm sure Hank could help you out..." Charles shook his head and looked around his room. "No it's okay. But...have you seen my chair anywhere?" Erik's brows furrowed as he looked around the room. "I swear it was here last night when we were playing chess..." Charles nodded. "It was. But it seemed to had vanished overnight." 

"I'll call Hank. See if he took it last night or something." Erik rose from Charles bed and plucked his phone out from his pocket, dialing Hank's number. It ran three times before Hank picked up.  _"Erik?"_ Hank sounded shocked that Erik called him, Erik himself, gave a small chuckle. "Hank. I don't suppose you've seen Charles' chair anywhere? It wasn't in his room where it normally is." It took Hank a few seconds to answer, from the other side of the line, it sounded like he was talking to someone.  _"Nope. I haven't. Nor has Raven. Sorry..."_

Erik cursed in German under his breath before running his hands through his hair. "It's fine...we'll uh...manage...goodbye Hank." He hung up the phone without a second thought and put it back into his pocket. "Well, I guess I will have to cancel your classes today. Unless you want me to carry you the entire day." Charles chuckled and shook his head. "Although I'd really enjoy that...we shouldn't scare the children." Erik huffed and sat himself at the end of Charles' bed. "I'll stay here for as long as I can, but because you signed me up to teach the students German, I have a class at 11." 

"You were always complaining that no one else in the school could speak German. So...I improvised." 

"By signing me up to become a teacher?" Erik said, still chuckling, Charles shrugged and leaned back so he was resting against the pillows. "One of the many flaws of that plan..."

***

_**Charles...** _

Charles jolted awake at the sound of the voice, it sounded like it was whispering in his ear. Once he assessed there was no danger, he lifted his head from the pillow with a groan. Right across from his bed, Hank and Raven were both sat in chairs, Hank reading a book and Raven straightening out all of the picture frames on Charles' drawers, a habit she picked up when she was eleven. "You don't need to do that...I'm pretty sure they're all straight..." Charles said from his cocoon of blankets, from over in the corner, Raven snorted. "Trust you to make things straight. You haven't been straight yourself since you met Erik."

Both Charles and Hank chuckled at that, Charles rubbed at his eyes and yawned. "What time is it...?" He asked, turning his head towards Hank. "Almost one. I checked on Erik, he's doing pretty well considering that's his first class." Raven chuckled from where she was now digging in Charles' closet, rearranging clothes- another habit she picked up. "In a week he'll be on his knees begging Charles to let him quit." 

Hank smirked and placed his book on Charles' nightstand. "I'm pretty sure that won't be the only thing he'd be begging for." Charles head snapped up at Hank's comment. "Hank!" He shouted in embarrassment, groaning and wishing the thick blankets would swallow him whole. Both Hank and Raven started laughing. "Oh wise up Charles. You know we're just joking." Raven said, still coming down from her laughing session. "That makes one of us..." Hank said quietly, yelping as Raven dug her elbow into his side. "Okay, okay I'm sorry..." He said, sitting back in his chair. 

_**Charles...** _

The voice whispered again, Charles inhaled sharply and went limp in the blankets as he was dragged into yet another memory, this time however, he wasn't with Cain or Kurt, instead, he was in Cuba. 

_He felt the bullet curve into his spine, he let out piercing scream as his legs jerked and buckled from underneath him, his knees hit the sand first and he hissed in pain at the sharp twinge that went through his entire body, he saw Erik running towards him, catching him as he fell. Charles felt the bullet retracting from his spine, it was most likely Erik using his powers. Erik pulled him into his lap and stared down intensely at him. Erik was white as a sheet as he saw Charles' face screwed up in pain and unable to move, his eyes instantly trained on the CIA agent that shot him._

_He made her dog tags become tight and he lifted her into the air, her breathing was instantly cut off, she scratched against her throat, trying to stop the tags from strangling her. "Erik...stop..." Charles said weakly, trying to grab the mutants hand. "Please...you're...hurting...her..." He continued, Erik sighed before he let the girl down, she fell into the sand and coughed, grabbing her throat as her breathing returned to normal. Erik looked down at Charles and tucked a strand of his hair behind his ear._

"Charles!" Hank's voice brought him back to the present, he found himself lying across a table in what seemed to be Hank's lab, Charles groaned and rubbed at his head. "I'm here...I'm fine..." He said weakly, looking around the lab as his vision returned to normal. From above him, Raven and Hank shared a look before frowning. "You didn't sound- nor look 'okay' Charles!" Raven said loudly, waving her hands around. "What the  _hell_ was that?!"

"I DON'T KNOW!" Raven looked taken aback at Charles' tone, he sighed and rubbed at his face again. "I...I don't know what it was okay? It's been happening since...God I don't know..." Hank cleared his throat and knelt next to Charles. "It's been happening since we stopped Apocalypse hasn't it?" 

"Yes but-" 

"I know what's going on..."

***


	2. Chapter Two: Possession

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M ALIVE. I'M SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING.

***

_**One week later...** _

***

_The walls were changing, morphing, becoming taller and ripping out of the ceiling in Charles' room, the floor stretched further, becoming solid concrete. In the middle of the room, the floor rose up, creating two identical platforms, tall enough for two people to lie on. The room was open, the only thing in the whole place was the two slabs. Charles walked closer, he noted that his legs were perfectly capable of walking inside a mind. He laid a hand on one of the stone slabs, it was freezing, like it had been frozen. He shivered, quickly removing his hand._

_From behind him, Charles heard someone enter the room, he turned slowly on his heel, blowing out the breath he was holding. In front of him, the guy that caused all of this stood tall, looking down at Charles with a slight smirk. "Hello Charles..." He spoke, stepping into his space, Charles stood back for every step En Sabah Nur took towards him. Charles' hands curled into fists as he tried to contain his anger against the other mutant. En Sabah Nur looked around the room for a moment, his eyes stopped on the two slabs. His head cocked to one side, and his eyes drifted back to Charles._

_Charles tried to keep his composure, keeping a blank face to not show his fear, but after a while, it crumbled. He shivered under the other mutants gaze, not realizing that his legs started to shake. En Sabah Nur stepped closer, trapping Charles between the slabs. "Get on the slab Charles." He said calmly, gesturing to one of them. Charles turned slightly to look at it, before turning back and shaking his head. "No." He said quietly, hunching in on himself. En Sabah Nur blew out a breath before grabbing Charles' left arm roughly, Charles' eyes widened when he realized the other mutant could touch him. "Get. On."_

_He tried pulling out of his grip, but the other mutant held on, squeezing Charles' arm and making him grit his teeth in pain. He knew there would probably be a hand-shaped bruise on his arm in the morning. "Let go of me!" He clawed at the green arm holding him, En Sabah Nur smirked and pulled Charles towards one of the slabs. "NO!" He screamed, Charles planted his feet on the ground and tried to pull himself in the other direction. The other mutant pulled Charles roughly, he cried out in pain as he heard a crack in his arm, he tried calling for help. He called for Erik. Screaming for someone to help him._

He finally was able to break out of his mind, shooting up in his bed with a cry of pain and a harsh breath. He tried getting his breathing under control, but ended up breaking down into sobs. He felt a hand on his shoulder and screamed, turning roughly to protect himself from the threat. But when he turned, he only found Erik, hair messy from sleep and eyes half open. Charles sighed in relief and scrubbed at his face. "Charles...?" Erik said softly, moving closer to the professor and wrapping an arm around his shoulder. Charles closed his eyes as he felt the warmth of the man, letting himself go boneless under the touch. 

Erik pulled them both back to the pillows, tucking the blanket over Charles' body. He turned Charles' face towards him, he frowned as he saw the tear tracks on his cheeks, wiping them away. "Are you alright?" He asked, looking down at Charles with worry and love on his face. "I-I...I'm fine." Charles said quietly, willing that Erik would just forget about what just happened, but knowing him, he would drop it without an answer. 

"Charles...you were  _screaming_...please just tell me what's going on..." Charles cursed softly, he forgot that he didn't tell Erik what occurred a week ago in Hank's lab, and everyone who witnessed what happened swore they wouldn't tell Erik until Charles was ready. Which, was probably never going to happen. Erik was still waiting patiently for an answer, his hand rested on Charles cheek, stroking the skin softly to keep Charles calm. "I..." Charles licked his lips, thinking about what he was going to say. Surely Erik would be angry that Charles kept this a secret for so long. 

"T-There's something I need to tell you..."

***

Erik blew out the breath he was holding since Charles starting speaking, he swiped a hand through his hair as he processed what exactly Charles was telling him. "Okay..." He said softly, closing his eyes for a few seconds before opening them again. "Okay...let's just, take a step back for a moment..." Charles sat quietly, watching Erik try and get the words out. "You've known this for what...a week?" He looked to Charles for an answer, Charles ducked his head and nodded in reply. "Y-Yes...I was going to tell you-" Erik raised a hand and Charles stopped talking almost immediately, he knew when Erik got like this you, under any circumstance, _should not_ provoke him. 

"Who...who else knows?" Charles swallowed the lump forming in his throat before answering. "Only Hank and Raven...I wasn't going to tell  _anyone_ but they found out when I..." He gestured to his head with his hands. "Had a memory while they were in the room, Hank ran some tests and...then we knew." Erik nodded and licked his lips. "And...you didn't think that maybe I would want to know?" Charles looked down at the floor. "I didn't want you to worry..."

"Worry? Charles...I'm  _always_ going to worry about you. It's my job!" Erik wrapped Charles into a hug, letting the telepath sob into his shoulder. "Has Hank figured out how to fix it yet?" Erik whispered, pulling Charles' head back from the hug, Charles shook his head and a lone tear runs down his face, Erik wipes it away with his thumb. "That's okay...we'll deal with this. I'm sure he'll come up with something. In the meantime, would you like anything?"

"C-Can...can you stay for a few days? I don't want to be alone in case...that happens again."

"I'll have to rearrange a few things but of course I'll stay..." Charles smiled up at Erik before resting his head on his shoulder. "Thank you..." Erik returned the smile, bringing the blanket further up Charles' body, and tucking it around him. "Anytime...now, just try and rest. I'll talk to Hank in the morning okay?" Charles hummed and shuffled, as much as he could, closer to Erik. "G'night..." He slurred, and, almost immediately, he was drifting away in a dream-less sleep. "Goodnight Charles..." Erik whispered, even know the mutant was fast asleep. He pressed a kiss onto Charles' temple and closed his eyes. 

***

Charles groaned and threw an arm over his face to protect himself from the onslaught of light filling his bedroom, from over in the corner, he heard a small laugh. Charles let out a small huff and lifted his head from his pillow, blinking slowly and rubbing his eyes. Erik was sat at the small wooden dining table opposite Charles' bed, he had a cup of coffee and a newspaper in his hands. Charles chuckled and shook his head. "How very domestic Erik." 

"Shut up Charles." He grumbled, burying his face further into the paper, almost immediately, Erik blew out a harsh breath and dropped the paper back onto the table, he cursed and held his head in his hands. Charles frowned as he watched his friend. "Are they still blaming you?" 

"When aren't they Charles? The sky could come crashing down and they'd  _still_ find a way to blame me." He whispered, Charles bit down on his lip, a habit he's had since childhood. "It...it doesn't matter what they think Erik. I don't blame you. That's all that matters..." He said softly, Erik squeezed his eyes closed and shook his head harshly. "No...no you should. You _should_ blame me. God Charles I paralyzed you!" He stood up and made his way towards Charles, who was watching him with a stern look. "You didn't paralyze me Erik. It was my fault, I was in the way." 

"You...no you weren't! I...God I should have been paying attention..." Erik let his head drop to rest against the wall, he closed his eyes and reached out for Charles' hand, he pressed a small kiss onto Charles' palm. "You weren't in the way schatz. I don't know what came over me to...to try and fire those weapons back. I should have listened to you." Charles smiled reassuringly and brushed his fingers over Erik's bruised knuckles, he must've been to the gym. "Yes. You should have listened to me. But you were angry...Shaw got in your head."

"A-And you're going through the same thing and I _can't_ help you! I don't know how!" 

"I'm quite alright Er-"

"NO! Stop it Charles! You don't get it. You're  _not_ okay. And you shouldn't act like you are. You need help, so...let me try to help you." Charles looked up at his friend in defeat and nodded slowly. "Okay. O-Okay..." He said softly, leaning heavily into Erik's side, Erik wrapped an arm around the younger man and pulled Charles down so that his head rested on Erik's shoulder. "Thank you..." Erik said sweetly. 

Charles just shook his head and burrowed closer to Erik. "Wake me up again in two hours, I have a class..." 

"Of course Charles." 

***


End file.
